Baseball History, Commentary and Analysis

Top Ten Things For Which Mets Fans Can Be Moderately Satisfied

Though I’ve been a Mets fan since 1974, and have been writing this blog for nearly five years now, I don’t often indulge myself in all things Mets (probably because there’s not a great deal for which to indulge.) Yet, given the declining interest among the fan base (do they still make Mets fans?), I thought I would do my best to try to cheer up my fellow refugees here in Mets-Land.

English: Citi Field with Shea Stadium’s Home Run Apple (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

To that purpose, here is my list of the top ten things for which Mets fans can be moderately satisfied:

1) Through 276 plate appearances, Curtis Granderson has not yet hit into a single double-play this season.

2) Jon Niese’s 2.67 ERA ranks 8th-best in the N.L., and his 1.15 WHIP ranks 11th in the senior circuit.

4) Through 274 plate appearances, Mets prospect Brandon Nimmo has an outstanding .449 on-base percentage in Single-A for the St. Lucie Mets in the Florida State League.

5) Matt Harvey is still undefeated this year.

6) If it’s true that with age comes wisdom, then Mets G.M. Sandy Alderson (66), manager Terry Collins (65), and team owner Fred Wilpon (77), are Major League baseball’s version of the Oracle at Delphi, if the Oracle at Delphi featured poor infield defense, and looked at lots of 2-1 fastballs down the middle.

7) The Mets home attendance average of 27,823 fans per game (17th-best in MLB), means that there is normally plenty of leg and elbow room for the fans who actually do show up, not like out in San Francisco, where the park is 99.5% filled to capacity. Being a Mets fan attending a game at Citi Field is, then, like enjoying a first-class deck cabin on the Lusitania.

8) Mets third baseman David Wright still has a perfect driving record. And, according to another blog I read recently, Wright plays baseball “above the neck.” That might put him at a competitive disadvantage, however, in a league where most other players use their hands, feet, legs and arms.

9) No Mets pitcher appears to be on track to match the team record of 24 losses in a season accumulated by retired Mets pitchers Roger Craig and Jack Fisher. Zack Wheeler currently has just seven losses to lead the team, so he’ll have his work cut out for him if we wishes to join Craig and Fisher in the pantheon of Mets infamy.

10) With just six triples as an entire team so far this season, the Mets appear to be on pace to at least match the all-time team low of 14 triples the team legged out in 1999. But at least management will have to spend less money on footwear during the next off-season. No doubt they’ll put that money to good use signing marquee free agents for the 2015 season, and beyond.

You could also say, “Thank goodness we’re not the Padres.” I don’t understand why they are perpetually bad, but the Mets have twice the pennants, more titles, more no-hitters, and so on than San Diego does.

When I lived in Los Angeles, I used to listen to Padres’ radio broadcasts – their then-radio team of two NY transplants, Jerry Coleman and Ted Leitner, was very entertaining (more so than the Dodgers’ Charlie Steiner & Rick Monday).

Jerry Coleman once said, wistfully, I think in 2008, that there was no such thing as “Padres Nation” (as there is a Red Sox Nation) — they have desert to the east, Mexico to the south, ocean to the west, and “those other teams” to the north.

Increasingly, being a Mets fan really is like being a Padres fan. We really have no “nation”. On MLB Network (on a top-prospects show) they referred to Travis d’Arnaud as “your Buster Posey”… but he’s not. He’s not even our Duffy Dyer or Alex Trevino, at this point.

Hey Jason, Maybe we could settle for Mets Desert Island, and we could adopt the Gilligan’s Island theme song as our own: “Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip….”
If you blindfolded Posey, and gave him a broom-handle to swing with, he might do a passable impersonation of d’Arnaud (which, I believe is French for, “A swing and a miss.”
Where’s Ron Hodges when we need him?
Take care,
Bill

Your true Mets fan colors are bright and clear here! Love it, especially with the Braves (the other team I follow), are playing so badly right now, it actually causes me pain to watch an entire game.

I really like Matt den Dekker, although that will have very little bearing on his MLB future. Most of the players I really like end up succeeding at things like mediocrity (Mookie Wilson, Bud Harrelson)and criminal activity (Lenny Dykstra).